Australia’s love affair with the Melbourne Cup appears to be waning, with a new survey finding more than half have “low” or “no interest” in the race that traditionally stops the nation.
Amid growing support for the Nup to the Cup movement, the latest Guardian Essential poll also suggests almost half of those surveyed (45%) believe it promotes “unhealthy” gambling behaviour, with a third (34%) saying it normalises animal cruelty.
Ahead of Tuesday’s cup day at Flemington, the poll finds about three-quarters of people (72%) believe the Melbourne Cup is a “unique part of Australia’s national identity”, which is down six percentage points since 2019, despite being up from 67% when the question was asked last year.
Men are more likely to agree with the sentiment compared to women (73% to 71%), but the most marked difference comes from a breakdown of age groups. Only 56% of those aged 18 to 34 view the Melbourne Cup in such a light, compared to 86% of those over the age of 55 and 72% of those aged 35-54.
Overall, 15% say they have a high interest in Tuesday’s race, with 31% showing moderate interest, 24% low interest and 28% no interest.
The findings come amid falling attendance numbers for the race – even before the past two years of Covid restrictions – and a backlash to horse fatalities that prompted a review by Racing Victoria.
But despite the dwindling allure of the Cup, the survey shows that a growing number of people still intend to place a bet, including those who do not consider themselves regular gamblers.
Of the 1,038 people surveyed, 47% of people intend to place a bet on Tuesday’s race, including 56% of males and 39% of females, up from 36% last year and 42% in 2020.
Overall, 18% of those intending to gamble say they bet regularly on horse races and will place a bet this time. This is up 3% compared to a year ago.
Almost a third of people (29%) say they “rarely” bet on horse races, but intend to gamble on the Cup, an 8% increase since last year. Women are more likely to be occasional than regular gamblers, with most women (61%) not intending to bet on the race.
Middle aged men are the most likely to gamble, with 56% of men saying they will bet on the race – 25% of those say they regularly bet on horse races.
About a third of those polled (34%) say they will not watch the race and will not place a bet, with women and those over the age of 55 the least likely to tune in and gamble at 40% and 41% respectively.
And despite young people being more likely than those over the age of 55 to link the cup with unhealthy gambling behaviour and animal cruelty (39% compared to 24%), they are also more likely to gamble than older people.
Half of those aged 18 to 34 say they intend to bet on the race, compared to 56% of those aged 35 to 54 and 36% of those over the age of 55.
Green and independent voters are most likely to be concerned by gambling and animal cruelty linked to the cup, while almost half of all Labor voters (47%) believe it promotes unhealthy gambling compared to 37% of Coalition voters. The gap is narrower when it comes to animal cruelty concerns, with just 34% of Labor voters and 30% of Coalition voters saying it is an issue.
